MARK COLVIN: Damning evidence has revealed that the Christian Brothers knew boys in their care were being physically and sexually abused for almost a century.

Historic documents handed to the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse show the Catholic order was aware of 70 possible offenders across Australia between 1919 and 1969.

In most cases, leaders took no action and the abuse continued for years.

The order apologised in the 1990s, but it still spent more than a million dollars fighting a class action launched by the victims.

Thomas Oriti reports.

THOMAS ORITI: Former residents of Christian Brothers homes in Western Australia have told the Royal Commission they want answers.

JOHN HENNESSEY: They were not there when I needed them. There was no compassion, no Christian values, no gratitude.

CLIFFORD WALSH: I would go to my grave happy if I could just see justice done. To me, this means the Christian Brothers admitting the wrong they have done and doing something about it.

VI: They still haven't learnt to put their hand up and say, "Right, we've stuffed up; we're going to help you; we're going to do everything we can."

GORDON GRANT: Closure. That's what we want. That's what the Christian Brothers would want.

THOMAS ORITI: The Catholic order says it has learnt from the experiences at Bindoon, Clontarf, Castledare and Tardun.

But evidence at today's hearing suggested Christian Brothers were aware of serious problems for decades.

A visitation report from 1947 reveals the Saint Joseph's Farm and Trade School at Bindoon was never fitted out as a school, despite the fact boys were promised an education.

Brother Anthony Shanahan was a province leader in the 1990s and says it wasn't even properly built.

ANTHONY SHANAHAN: One of the many factors, I think, that contributed to the, well what ended up being a tragic state of affairs I think in the late 40s and early 50s at Bindoon, was that the place was still being built, you might say, got ready, and many child migrants and others - mainly child migrants - were coming in, so the place was overcrowded.

THOMAS ORITI: He told the hearing the schooling aspect of Bindoon was "token and incidental". Instead, young boys were subjected to hard labour to complete the buildings themselves.

Documents from 1954 also contain specific references to boys being harmed. One letter describes sexual abuse as a "particular weakness" that's "difficult to root out".

Counsel Assisting the Commission, Gail Furness, asked Brother Shanahan to read a passage.

ANTHONY SHANAHAN: The greatest troubles with the weakness is the harm it does to the boys. Boys seem to find it hard to forget anything of the nature, especially on the part of one whose office it is to deplore such conduct.

THOMAS ORITI: At the time, it was known that Brothers took boys into their bedrooms - a clear breach of the order's constitution.

Some Brothers were questioned about a complaint, but there were no consequences and the abuse continued.

Gail Furness referred to a report in 1959 about the conduct of Brother Lorian McLoughlin at Saint Vincent's Orphanage in Clontarf.

GAIL FURNESS: The visitation report indicated that there was kissing and embracing of children, and the visitation report noted that the brother didn't regard his actions with the boys fundamentally wrong.

And there's no consequence for the brother.

THOMAS ORITI: Allegations of rape at the hands of Brother Dick at the Castledare Junior Orphanage were dismissed at the time as "early difficulties" that the man had "overcome".

He was later jailed.

Overall, historic documents held by the Christian Brothers across Australia identify 70 perpetrators of sexual and physical abuse between 1919 and 1969.

Eighteen of them were repeat offenders.

The order apologised to victims in 1993, but it still spent at least $1.5 million fighting a class action on behalf of 240 men who lived at the homes in Western Australia.

Brother Anthony Shanahan says the order believed some of the claims weren't accurate.

ANTHONY SHANAHAN: Namely the stories that would have been coming to us through the media, particularly, which I think at that time we regarded as in some cases sensationalised or exaggerated.

THOMAS ORITI: The legal battle went on for three years. It resulted in a $5 million settlement, but the Christian Brothers said the money was not "compensation".

Brother Shanahan said there was fear for what the future might hold - that admitting total fault could encourage future litigation.

Gail Furness questioned those concerns.

GAIL FURNESS: To be concerned that it might attract further litigation is, I suggest, not a particularly compassionate view of those who may have legitimate claims to bring.

THOMAS ORITI: Some of the victims were offered just $2,000.

Anthony Shanahan conceded the Christian Brothers should've reached a settlement sooner. And he says the $5 million payout wasn't adequate.

ANTHONY SHANAHAN: We got it wrong in terms of the amount. Like I think the settlement should've been a more liberal one.

THOMAS ORITI: But he's assured the Royal Commission that times have changed.

ANTHONY SHANAHAN: We have workshops on psychosexual integration; we do courses on human development. They'd be some of the sorts of things that I think were largely missing in the past.

MARK COLVIN: A former province leader of the Christian Brothers in Western Australia and South Australia, Anthony Shanahan, ending that report from Thomas Oriti.